弘贊法華傳 7.25

7.25

Shi Senglang, also named Falang, whose secular surname was Xu, was a native of Nanyang. When he was twenty-odd years old, he rejoiced in the desire to leave home, and soon received tonsure. He had no fixed dwelling place, mostly residing in Ezhou. His appearance was distinct from the worldly, possessing extraordinary features; his eating and drinking were like those of commoners, so he was held in contempt by his contemporaries. He regularly kept a monkey and a dog of great size, both yellowish-red in color. They were not intimate with other people, but attached only to Lang, following him morning and evening without ever parting. When it was time to eat, he received food in a wooden bowl; once Lang had eaten his fill, he fed the rest to them. Having eaten together from the bowl, the monkey would take the bowl and wear it on its head, ride on the dog's back, and walk ahead of Lang. If anyone tried to seize it, they were invariably bitten by the dog. Lang let the dog roam as it pleased, with hardly any regular pattern. At the end of the Chen dynasty and the beginning of the Sui, he traveled beyond the Jiangling region; his clerical robes were coarse and tattered, his deportment lacked proper order, and he walked on foot with a staff, protecting living beings. From time to time he would read and recite various sūtras, making the Lotus Sūtra his particular aspiration. Being naturally deficient in vocal clarity, he made a pure vow to recite it seven times in a single sitting. Before long, his tones became harmonious and fluent, sometimes like zithers and flutes, sometimes like wind and thunder. Giving free rein to cadences and modulations, the phrases and sentences were distinctly clear, yet his lips did not move, the sound welling up from within his throat. Observers standing by lost their senses of sight and hearing. In his recitation, he always took seven as the period, up to seventy, seven hundred, seven thousand, reaching even seventy thousand. Moreover, his arms, legs, and fingernails would retract into his bosom at will, like a tortoise hiding within its shell, appearing at times like a lump of flesh. Sometimes he would go to banquets to drink with others, chewing and gnawing on pork, with no one knowing where it came from. Therefore the world had a saying: "Falang of the Lotus Sūtra: the five limbs retract simultaneously, and his mouth and belly are full of pork." At other times, he would navigate the river against or with the current, clasping his hands in a boat with monkey and dog at his side, without using oar or rudder; wherever he pleased to go, though braving wind and waves, he would reach the destination in the twinkling of an eye. In the closing years of the Daye reign era, before the dust [of rebellion] had arisen, Lang’s mouth only shouted, "Rebels!", unceasing day and night. The officials feared he was misleading the multitude, so they imprisoned and executed him. Falin of Xiangyang had long associated with him, revered his profound attainments, and recorded this on the basis of the facts.